Chapter 6: Ghosts

The powers that were entrusted to Bruce Wayne were significant.  He had the ability to appoint city officials.  He had just become Commissioner Barbra Gordon’s boss, she served at his leisure.  He looked at the assembled.  Some were concerned.  Some were hiding their fury.  Some eyed him with suspicion.  Bruce had been a strong force for change when he took on the task of city councilman, he had helped Commissioner Clifton Harris clean up corruption in the police department, and instituted stricter background checks on police applicants, paid for equipment upgrades.  Because of his policies Gotham was physically safer.  “My fellow council members.  I accept this appointment in the stead of Mayor Denali.  I take to heart the trust she has placed in me to keep her city...our city safe during this crisis.”

One by one the council applauded him.  He spent the next half hour somberly shaking hands.  There were a few pats on the back but there was no joy in the room.  He never wanted to be the mayor, and he certainly never would have wanted it like this.  There was, however, one opportunity he could now seize.

While waiting for information on the mayor’s status, he had the computer run the name “Joseph Bleak”.  Once it found an image of him taken from the news paper’s coverage of the city council, he ran the facial recognition software and quickly turned up another name in Gotham Police Departments Records Management System.

“Chill, Joseph: Robbery, assault, and engaging in organized criminal activities.”  Information buried in the dark ages of Gotham’s corruption.  Changed his name after Joe Chill faded from history, a minor footnote in Gotham’s war on the crime bosses.  But Joe Chill was still a name whispered in the shadowy corners, a mover and shaker in what remained of the city’s underworld.  The face from the mug shot hit Bruce like a hammer.

                They were leaving the theater.  They had just seen the Mark of Zorro.  Young Bruce’s mind was wheeling from the action and adventure of the hero in the cape and mask.  His father made a joke, his mother laughed.  Then two men emerged from the shadows.  Well dressed, hair slicked back, the first man, now known to Bruce as Jack Napier, struggled with his mother’s pearls while pointing a gun at her head.  The pearls tore away, spilling onto the ground.  Jack fired twice.  His parent’s fell dead, their blood pooling in the dirty street.  Bruce on his knees, tears streaming down his eyes.  Napier leveled the gun at Bruce’s head “Hey kid...” he said “Ever dance with the devil by the pale moon light?”  The second man, however whispered under his breath “What did you do?  We just needed to scare them...what did you do?” Sirens split the night.  “Come on Jack, we gotta go.” He ran down the street.  “Come on Jack!”

“See you around, kid.” Jack said before disappearing back into the night.

And so he had seen Jack around.  He met him a lifetime later as the Joker.  But the second man was lost in time until now.

                Jospeh Bleak sat in his study.  It was a large room with a bank of windows that overlooked the city.  It had once been the abode of Carl Grissom, and for a while after his untimely demise, the staging ground of the Joker’s campaign of terror.  Now, it returned to it’s rightful place.  He swirled his brandy in his glass and sipped.  “Bruce fucking Wayne.” He whispered.  A spotlight illuminated the window, filling the room with blinding white light.  A silhouette emerged from the light, that of a massive black bat.  “Jesus!” Joe called out.  The window shattered into a cacophony of sound as the bat crashed through, rolling as it landed and coming up to a standing position.  Joe stumbled back into a easy chair, shaking horribly.  “Joseph Chill” the Batman growled.

“Sweet Lord of Mercy, don’t kill me...” Joe whispered through his fear.  Batman loomed over the quivering figure “Tell me a story, Joe Chill.” Batman said his voice on the edge of rage.  “Tell me why Bruce Wayne’s parents had to die.”

Joe looked up, tears streaming down his face.  “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.  We were just supposed to scare them.  Boss Grissom was running for city council against Wayne.  Wayne knew who Grissom was, and the boss tried to scare him off.  We were just supposed to rough them up, ya know.  Put a little fear into them.  But Jack...Jack was...well you know what Jack was.  He was a lunatic back then.  God almighty if I could take it back I would.”

Batman seethed with anger.  After all these years, the wound of his parent’s death was still a raw nerve. 

“You want repentance, Joe.  Here is what you WILL do.”

                Bruce had his work cut out for him.  Lucius graciously took over the day to day affairs of Wayne Enterprises, but now he was left with running a city and his nocturnal adventures.  “I have no idea how Queen did it for so long...” he muttered as he read report after report.  A soft knock came to his door.  It was Joseph Bleak, looking tired and old, pale and fragile.  Bruce almost felt sorry for the old man.

Almost.

“Mayor Wayne, your honor.  May I have a moment of your time.”

“Go ahead.  Have a seat.”  The frail figure before him folded up into the seat.  “I...don’t know how to say this...”

“You were with Jack Napier the night he murdered my parents.” Bruce said bluntly.  The truth seemed to hit Joe so hard it caused physical pain.

“Because of you, Jack Napier was free to run the streets, become Boss Grissom’s second in command, become the Joker, and kill hundreds of innocent people.  You could have prevented all that by just coming forward.  They would have buried him in either Arkham or Blackgate.  You know that.”

He nodded in admission.  “Yeah.  There’s nothing I can do to take all that back.  I can’t bring back your parents.  Can’t give you the time you lost with them.  But...I still have a few things I can give you.  I understand the city is in crisis.  I have...influence with some of the remaining organized crime families.  We’ve been talking.  They know the lunatics are bad for business.  They don’t care who they hurt.  So the families are working together.  While the police hunt them above, they’ll hunt them below.  Bruce...I’m sorry.  I’m so sorry.”

Bruce nodded.  He knew this was going to happen.  He told Joe what needed to happen as Batman, but still, the fact that he accomplished it, the sincerity of his apology for all the pain he caused.  Joe rose to his feet weakly.  “I’ll stay in office until the crisis is over, then I’ll step down from the council.  I don’t expect you to forgive me.” He walked out of the office and disappeared down the hallway.

                Carrie paced the cave thinking about all that had transpired.  The bats above softly moved about in their sleep.  The silence of it all was almost deafening.  The computer pinged.  The picture of Ed Nash was shown next to another with the words “match found” across the bottom.  Carrie walked carefully to the computer.  She highlighted the image with the mouse and clicked on it.  Her hand hovered over the “delete” key.